Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife?
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Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 2:47:33 PM
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Ben Sobieck
Posts: 213
Joined: 10/30/2008
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In this article by Al Cambronne, the author argues that simple, small knives are the most effective when it comes to deer hunting.
Do you agree or disagree with Cambronne? What makes for a good deer knife?
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 3:17:17 PM
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ranwin33
Posts: 1552
Joined: 5/4/2008
From: Live Kansas - Hunt Missouri
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I want a relatively short blade, definitely no more than 4 inches, 3 inches would be fine. Something with a gut hook on it. Overall length should be 9 inches or less.
I also want a handle that provides a good gripping surface when covered with blood, checkered hard rubber would be good, probably not wood. It needs to be long enough and wide enough that I don't feel like I have a problem gripping it.
As far as blade steel, I'm not so particular as long as it will hold an edge during the entire field dressing process. I've got a knife with S30V and another with 420, both do just fine for this type of work.
Finally, I don't want it to cost me a lot of money.
_____________________________
A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience...It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.
Aldo Leopold
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 4:30:09 PM
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vipertech
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I've been using a simple fixed blade knife that I got for free. But I would like one of the three-blade folding knives with a blade (for gutting), a gut hook blade (to slice the hide), and a serrated cutting blade (to cut the breast bone and the pelvis). I think this would be perfect. But I want the handle to be hunter orange so that it doesn't get lost when I set it down on the forest floor.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 4:59:31 PM
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dmcianfa
Posts: 444
Joined: 9/23/2008
From: Upriver
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I prefer a smaller knife with about 3.5" blade. Crafted wood handle with a solid butt end. I don't need a guthook as I don't really find it all that difficult to this task with a regular knife without puncturing the gut paunch. Just use two fingers and put the blade in between and let it ride. Anyway, I carry a small hatchet for pelvic bone and breastbone if I choose to split in the field. My grandpa used to gut his whole deer with a small hatchet, and in record time I might add. Coolest thing I ever saw and faster than I could ever hope to do. Never did learn that though since he passed before teaching me how to do it quickly. He was always to quick to put a finger on what he was doing exactly and it was dark most the time. Back to the topic, Small and very sharp works for me I guess.
_____________________________
"I enjoy and become completely immersed in the challenge and the increased opportunity to become for a time a part of nature. Deer hunting is a classical exercise in freedom. It’s a return to fundamentals that I distinctly feel are basic and right"-F.B.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 5:00:48 PM
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Archery_NUT
Posts: 215
Joined: 10/29/2008
From: Michigan
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i like the rapid river knife works knife my uncle gave to me! it is about 9 inches total fixed blade and rather sharp! and the deer season he gave it to me i shot my first deer so im ptetty conrent with it!
this isnt what my knife looks like exactly but it is almost the exact same thing! jsut differnt custom look!
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< Message edited by Archery_NUT -- 11/19/2009 8:50:55 PM >
_____________________________
bad day of hunting beats a good day of school or work anytime
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 5:01:52 PM
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Everyday Hunter
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Joined: 1/21/2009
From: Pennsylvania
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A long time ago, my dad told me a small knife is better than a big knife for field dressing a deer. He was right. And, being a budding outdoorsman who thought his dad was the best hunter in the world, I wanted the knife that he had. I reckoned it would suit a six year old just fine -- it was small, light, and I thought kid-sized. He assured me, by carving my name in the back of the sheath, that it would someday be mine.
He just about wore that knife out by resharpening over and over, but today I do have that knife, and for old time's sake it has done the wet work on a few deer for me. I have more and better knives, however, but that one will always be special.
I won't argue with a thing that Cambronne says. I've even field dressed a deer with one of those little gentleman's lock-blade knives with smooth stainless steel slabs and a blade that can't be more than 1¼" long. That bugger was slippery once covered in blood and fat, but the problem was never that the blade was too short. The danger was losing it inside the deer. A bigger and better handle, and it would have worked just fine.
I prefer a blade that's shorter than 4" (preferably 3"), with a handle that fits my hand and has some texture on it. When on the inside of a deer, my best-handling knife is a folding Gerber Gator.
Steve
_____________________________
When The Everyday Hunter isn't hunting, he’s thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 5:33:03 PM
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buckhunter21
Posts: 2378
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From: West-Central WI
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I think a smaller knife is definately better....That's what I use. As stated in the article, why use a huge knife? Doesn't make much sense, and only can be more cumbersome when field dressing an animal.
Here is a great website for some of the best field dressing knives I've found:
http://www.outdooredge.com/
_____________________________
QDM!
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 6:02:13 PM
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JPH
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You guys are in luck because I happen to own the single greatest deer hunting knife ever made!
As far as I can tell, it was made by the Edge Mark Co. (now out of business) in Solengen, Germany in 1953. It first belonged to my grandfather, then my father. I have had it since I was about 13. To be honest, I think it was a fairly cheap knife when it was made, but they stumbled onto something really special.
It has a 5" blade with a 9" overall length. As you can see, the blade is soft and pitted from many years of hard use. But let me tell you, you can cut yourself by looking the wrong way at it. Seriously. The stag handle and finger guards make a perfect grip that never slips and cleans easily. It does not carry easily in a pocket but it cuts dear hyde like butter.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 6:28:33 PM
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buckfarmdude
Posts: 172
Joined: 11/14/2008
From: Buckfield, ME
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Mine is the Buck Zipper with rubber handle. I don't know exactly how long the blade is, but it's a medium sized blade with a gut hook. I don't need to gut a deer with a machete, but a little more blade length also gives me a more edge to work with in case part of it gets dull. My old knife is a buck ranger, which is a little smaller than the Zipper. It's a lot like the 110, but a little shorter with a thicker handle and blade. That also works very well. Most of my knives are Buck knives, and the 420HC is not the best, but it sharpens easily and I can put a razor edge on it in a matter of minutes. I'm pretty picky about how sharp my edges are. If it don't shave, it ain't sharp.
_____________________________
Psalm 42:1 "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee O God."
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 8:01:42 PM
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Woods Walker
Posts: 1905
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From: Northern Illinois
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I also concur on the smaller bladed knife, 3" to 3 1.2" blade, but I want a handle that FITS MY HAND! Nothing to me is worse than using a knife where my hand is past the handle.
I also prefer a relatively narrow blade, not a narrow as a fillet knife, but more like a boning knife.
The most important thing is good steel. I have no problem with a HUNTING knife that takes me a good half hour to get a really good edge on, because once I do, I can do a half dozen animals with it before I need to put it back on a stone. A stropping or a once over with a butcher's steel gets them razor sharp again.
_____________________________
Hunt Hard,
Kill Swiftly,
Waste Nothing,
Offer No Apologies.....
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 8:18:21 PM
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Mac
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Joined: 9/26/2009
From: Central Texas
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For skinning and doing cuts with the meat I use this knife.
It's Ka-Bar. I actually try to keep it mmmmm somewhat dull.
I don't like it extremely sharp so that I can seperate the skin from the meat without cutting thru the pelt.
But for gutting, I use a bigger buck knife and a hatchet fot the pelvic bone.
Attachment (1)
< Message edited by Mac -- 11/5/2009 8:26:05 PM >
_____________________________
Quote: "Real men hunt deer with fly swatters!" - me... lol
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 9:14:34 PM
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Wanderer
Posts: 287
Joined: 2/8/2009
From: Fulton County Indiana
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I agree with Cambronne. My dad and my grandad were both meatcutters who made their own knives. True they had some large knives but they both used the smallest blade that would get the job done safely. I keep a Buck Protege in my bowhunter's vest. The blade is 3.00" long and is 420HC steel. Sometimes I get nostalgic and carry my Old Timer Sharpfinger. It's a touch longer at 3.30" and made of Hi Carbon steel. This is an old knife made before Shrade/Old Timer/ Uncle Henry went bust. All of today's Shrade knives come from China.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/5/2009 9:24:01 PM
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Woods Walker
Posts: 1905
Joined: 6/19/2008
From: Northern Illinois
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I have a Sharpfinger too, only it's the drop point blade....great little knife, and it holds and edge.
I have many knives, but my #1 favorite brand is Case. When I trapped as a kid, I used (and still have) the Case "Muskrat" Double Blade skinning knife. Even today, I carry a Case 2 bladed folding stockman knife in the deer woods with me.
_____________________________
Hunt Hard,
Kill Swiftly,
Waste Nothing,
Offer No Apologies.....
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 12:06:41 AM
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passin through
Posts: 682
Joined: 7/8/2008
From: North Louisiana
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Something small, 3-4 inch blade..usually my pocket knife is called to duty but in recent years I have swapped off to a series of good compact fixed blades generally because I forget once or twice a year and slide the recently washed off pocket knife back in my pocket before it drys and get wet pants. With the fixed blade it gets washed and tossed back on the dash of the truck for next time. Steel matters but long as it will hold a good edge it will work for me. Nothing huge is needed for skinning a whitetail but I have done it with a machete literally One of my good friends is a outfitter out in Texas and he uses a Gerber gator with gut hook to gut and victorionox kitchen paring knives for skinning...he buys a dozen at a time and uses a good steel on them to keep them razor sharp...and what he can do with those little knives is unbelievable....they get lots of practice though.
_____________________________
It matters not the weapon nor its caliber, rather the caliber of the one who wields it.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 12:17:37 AM
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Bluegrass Archer
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Joined: 9/2/2009
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The handles just as important to me as the blade. I want a really good grip and i want it to fit my hand. I stick with a 3 inch blade, ive used different knives and they all do a fine good so long as there sharp. I really like a gut hook tho. When butchering, i think an electric fillet knive is heaven sent. Especially when cutting jerky slices, really cuts back on time.
_____________________________
One does not hunt in order to kill, but one kills in order to have hunted.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 12:22:17 AM
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2tonyb
Posts: 95
Joined: 1/31/2009
From: Indiana
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I frequent a knife forum where this subject is beaten to death almost weekly. I agree that a large knife is not needed, but it all depends on the user and what he is comfortable with. One thing I have not seen mentioned above is ease of cleaning after the job. Fixed blades are somewhat easier than a folder. Folders tend to get goop packed into the frame and are tough to get washed out. That said, I carry a Buck 110 regularly and have used them many times to field dress. I recently picked up a fixed blade Buck Ergo hunter pro (s30v) that comes with a separate gut hook tool. I don't necessarily want a gut hood on a blade, but if I am going to have a gut hook, I want it to be big enough to be useful. Some of the knifemakers sell knives with a gut hook but they are too small to do do the job.
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 8:56:30 AM
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ranwin33
Posts: 1552
Joined: 5/4/2008
From: Live Kansas - Hunt Missouri
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JPH
You guys are in luck because I happen to own the single greatest deer hunting knife ever made!
As far as I can tell, it was made by the Edge Mark Co. (now out of business) in Solengen, Germany in 1953. It first belonged to my grandfather, then my father. I have had it since I was about 13. To be honest, I think it was a fairly cheap knife when it was made, but they stumbled onto something really special.
It has a 5" blade with a 9" overall length. As you can see, the blade is soft and pitted from many years of hard use. But let me tell you, you can cut yourself by looking the wrong way at it. Seriously. The stag handle and finger guards make a perfect grip that never slips and cleans easily. It does not carry easily in a pocket but it cuts dear hyde like butter.
I think I'd frame that knife and hang it on the wall.
_____________________________
A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience...It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.
Aldo Leopold
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 9:47:38 AM
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shaman
Posts: 1127
Joined: 6/21/2008
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KABAR Dozier 4062 on Amazon
This is my favorite. I carried a Buck 110 Folding Hunter for years. This 4062 I bought for Mooseboy, and I like it a lot better, especially for its abilities up inside the deer. I like everything about it.
1) I like the length
2) I like the point
3) I like the grip
4) It sharpens up well and stays sharp plenty long.
_____________________________
Genesis 9:2-4 Ministries of SW Bracken County, KY
Confessions of a Cervid Serial Killer
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 10:43:55 AM
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DeerCamp
Posts: 1061
Joined: 4/25/2008
From: Michigan
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Archery_Nut Rapid River makes really great knifes! The winner of our buck poll for gun wins one..I hope to get one this year..
_____________________________
"If I pull the hammer and shoot this young buck, he's dead. But if I pass on him, the next hunter might not shoot so straight."
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RE: Your Views: What Makes for a Good Deer Knife? - 11/6/2009 2:19:02 PM
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JPH
Posts: 2339
Joined: 4/24/2008
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ranwin33
quote:
ORIGINAL: JPH
You guys are in luck because I happen to own the single greatest deer hunting knife ever made!
As far as I can tell, it was made by the Edge Mark Co. (now out of business) in Solengen, Germany in 1953. It first belonged to my grandfather, then my father. I have had it since I was about 13. To be honest, I think it was a fairly cheap knife when it was made, but they stumbled onto something really special.
It has a 5" blade with a 9" overall length. As you can see, the blade is soft and pitted from many years of hard use. But let me tell you, you can cut yourself by looking the wrong way at it. Seriously. The stag handle and finger guards make a perfect grip that never slips and cleans easily. It does not carry easily in a pocket but it cuts dear hyde like butter.
I think I'd frame that knife and hang it on the wall.
Because of it's value or because you don't think it's worth hunting with? Seriously, I've always wondered if I had a unique piece on my hands. I've only seen one photo of a similar knife.
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